Hey All,
In case you missed last week’s email, welcome to the new email format/series where I help you increase productivity, stand out as an expert in the field, and teach you the ins and outs of climbing the Career Ladder as an Engineer, Designer/Drafter!
Each week I deliver useful tips, case studies, examples/tutorials, helpful downloads, and career insights, and help you keep up with the rapidly changing landscape of Technology and software in our industry!
This week, we have a helpful Quick Tip, I share my streamlined example CAD Folder Structure and a must-try Time-saving tool!
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Quick Tip:
Drawing organization and file safety are an essential pillar of productivity in design and engineering. Having a well-thought-out and organized typical file structure is a must when it comes to keeping your files organized and easy to access for future revisions and coworkers alike.
To help keep your files safe, make sure you’ve set up your Automatic Save settings in AutoCAD! To check your settings, use the OPTIONS command to bring up the drawing options and select the Open and Save tab. Then make sure Automatic save is checked on and choose your save time interval, the default is 10 minutes, but I like to up mine to 20 min. to reduce the interruptions during my work process. Your interval will depend on your risk tolerance and type/size of drawings you work on. You can also change up the file extension name for your temporary save files though I recommend leaving the rest to default.
This video looks at how to open your auto-save files if you ever need to recover them:
AutoCAD How To Find & Open Autosave Backup Files!
Are your project folders and drawing files organized properly?
Do you have a method to your madness?
I know I didn’t for a few years, well that’s not exactly true.
When I first started doing side projects and consulting, I had a system that I thought worked really well, heck I am willing to bet a lot of engineers and drafters use a similar system to what I used and even think it’s working well for them now.
It wasn’t until I started working on more and more complex jobs that I realized my organized folders weren’t very organized.
Here is a folder layout similar to what I used originally:
As you can see in the example screenshot above, I used a pretty typical layout.
The CAD FOLDER held all of my projects for a client or a year (depending on how I had it set up) and then the specific project was the PROJECT NAME folder.
Next, I would save all of my .dwgs in the CAD folder and any drawings or files (images etc.) I used as external references in the XREFS folder.
The PDFs folder was used when I printed the drawings to pdf to send to my client.
Pretty simple and organized right?
I thought so, at least until I started getting bigger projects, with files in both Civil 3d and basic Autocad, revised and new surveys, base imagery with multiple image files, points files, revisions, 3d models etc…
I know there are all kinds of variations depending on the type of drafting you do (civil, architectural, mechanical…) but as a consultant/small office in general they all require you to be able to easily find files and data.
This is where my current and IMPROVED folder system has helped me to save countless hours of searching and frustrations!
(Learn my Improved Folder System and download it for free as well as learn which Tool saves me the most time with Sheetsets. Access them with your premium subscription to Design x Technology)
Now I use a typical base folder structure for all of my projects, I simply copy and paste my template folder and rename the top-level folder as necessary, it takes a bit of getting used to but once you do you will thank me.
Here is an example of the structure I use and Copy/Paste (I’ll go through what I put in each folder after):
As you can see above, this folder structure is certainly more complex but when you take a minute and break it down you will see how useful it can be.
PROJECT – This is the main folder for each job that all of your files are saved in. For each new project/job I start I will copy and paste this folder in which I have all the empty subfolders in, then I rename it to the name or project number of the job I am working on. Within this folder you can add additional folders for your engineering work, survey, reporting, documents, emails, etc…
CAD – This folder is in the PROJECT folder and it holds all of the CAD-related folders and files.
CIVIL 3D – In the CAD folder, this folder contains any .dwgs that are made in civil 3d (ie. model drawings) this way I know not to bother opening them in vanilla CAD or to send them to someone who doesn’t have civil 3d.. so this folder holds any dwg with surfaces, profiles, corridors etc. If you use another specific program like Revit, Inventor, 3DS then you should name this folder to match and use it for these specific files.
DATA – In the CAD folder, this folder is where I save any files I use to create my drawings/models that aren’t referenced in as xrefs. Things like .csv and .txt point files, tables and charts to import, word docs etc. This will vary depending on what field you are in but it’s the misc data that you need.
PRODUCTION – In the CAD folder, this folder is where I save all of my final .dwgs the drawings in here are my production drawings that will be plotted and printed to pdfs to be sent to a client. Typically the .dwgs here will have xrefs to drawings in the REFERENCES folder and CIVIL 3D folder.
REFERENCES – In the CAD folder, this folder replaces my old xrefs folder. In this folder I will save any files that I reference (xref) into my production or civil 3d drawings. I will normally break these down into the two folders shown but this can be changed depending on how you work. I use:
DWG – Inside the REFERENCES folder, I use this for any cad drawing I reference.
IMAGES – Also in the REFERENCES folder, I use this for any image files I reference in to drawings.
SOURCE – In the CAD folder, this folder might be the most useful one. This folder is where I save any and all files I get from my client, surveyor, or download from a site etc. For each set of files I get I create a new folder in this folder and name it in the format shown – year-month-day – then a short description of where it came from and what it is. For example: “20140910 – Steve Jones – Base survey” means that on September 10th 2014 I received the base survey files from Steve Jones.
By using this system for everything I get related to a project I can keep track of exactly what I have and can reference it easily.
Important: I also never modify or link to the files in these folders, they are meant to be my originals. If I am going to use say a point file from here I will make a copy of it to my DATA folder and use/modify it in there. That way if anything ever goes wrong and need to start over or I need to prove I received a certain file I will still have the original and it will be dated etc..
OUTPUT – This folder is in the PROJECT folder, it contains any files that I will be sending out. This includes pdf plots of drawings, .dwg files, point files, imagery etc.. anything I am giving or sending to someone. Each time I go to send files I create a new folder in here and save them to it. This way I have an organized record of all the outgoing drawings and pdfs.
For example: “20140912 – To John Doe – Draft PDF Set of Drawings” means on September 12th 2014 I sent John Doe a set of printed pdfs in DRAFT for his review.
I know this is getting long now so I will start to wrap it up with this, I’ve uploaded a .zip file that contains my folders already made so you can just unzip them and start using if you don’t feel like making your own from scratch, it will make a great starting point for you to work from!
Download my example folder structure from this link: Folder Template
I really hope that I was able to help some of you out and save you all a bunch of time with this organizational system. I know it has helped me hugely over the last few years and I wanted to share it to help some of you out too.
Tool Highlight:
This week I wanted to highlight a tool I’ve used on and off for years on my CAD projects, SSM PropEditor. Those of you who work with sheet sets regularly (side note: if you’re not using sheet sets in your daily workflows, you’re definitely missing out! let me know by hitting reply/commenting if you’re not using sheet sets and why!) know that while they are easily one of the biggest time and energy savers in AutoCAD//C3D they could certainly be easier to use. Especially when you need to edit the properties of multiple sheets in a hurry.
Enter SSM PropEditor, it’s a simple standalone app that lets you easily edit individual or multiple sheet properties in an easy-to-use process. You don’t even need AutoCAD installed to update them. This lets PMs or engineers add initials, change drawing numbers, rev-up sets, and more without needing to open drawings!
Check it out here and let me know what you think? https://jtbworld.com/ssmpropeditor
I have no affiliation with JTB work or the app, I’ve just been a user on and off for many years!
That’s all for today, I hope you’re enjoying the new format, I am excited to share so much more with you each week.
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I would love to hear what you think? Be sure to let me know by hitting reply or sending me a message over on twitter @cadintentions !
As always, thank you so much for reading and watching, I am super excited for the rest of the year, growing the content, tutorials, and blog with you all.
Cheers and happy Drafting!
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